


To Reciprocate Mad Devotion

by twoseas



Series: A Darkness, Sweet and Tender [2]
Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Hannibal is shockingly good at assuring Will of his love, Hannibal wants to know why Will wants to know, M/M, Mostly talking, Obsession, Smitten Hannibal Lecter, Sweetness, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings, Will Graham's mood swings, Will wants to know if Hannibal still thinks about killing him, almost as if he learned his lesson about miscommunicating his feelings or something, but it's honestly a pretty good question, honeymoon jitters, some making out, some talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 22:30:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15828228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twoseas/pseuds/twoseas
Summary: The night before they're set to leave the country, Will asks Hannibal if he still thinks about killing him. Hannibal is honest and romantic in a way only Hannibal knows how to be.A short followup piece for "To Consume and Be Consumed." Takes place in a canon divergent AU where after a bit of bondage, slashing, and drugging, Hannibal and Will come together.





	To Reciprocate Mad Devotion

**Author's Note:**

> I'm lucky enough to have a bit more free time for fanfic writing and I LOVED writing this pair so I couldn't resist doing a small continuation of my first Will/Hannibal fic. 
> 
> Please, enjoy!

Will stared blankly at his desk and all the odds and ends he would be leaving behind and maybe - if he really, truly wanted to - taking with him. A pair of warm, strong, deadly arms wrapped around him, one hand splayed over his stomach and another over his heart. A low voice rumbled at the side of his head, lips close enough to ghost against the shell of his ear. 

“You’ve retreated into your mind once more. What are you thinking about, Will?”

Holding in a shiver, Will chose not to hold back the blunt honesty of his answer. “Do you still think about killing me?”

The body pressed against his back stiffened infinitesimally. Will would never have noticed if they weren’t so close, Hannibal holding him in an embrace tighter and more intimate than any he experienced before. 

Will plowed on ruthlessly. “Now would be the best time to do it. Since we sent them ahead, none of my dogs are here to get in your way. No one is expecting me anywhere any time soon. And you’ve already got an escape ready and lined up for tomorrow morning. You wouldn’t even have to worry about leaving evidence behind. You’d be long gone before they found my corpse.”

The arms around him twitched. 

“Right now, I couldn’t fight back,” Will continued, internally musing on his own utter calm about the whole situation. “I don’t have my gun or knives on me or nearby. You can physically overpower me. I doubt I’d have the chance to do much more than gasp out a few final words.”

“Where is this coming from?” Hannibal’s voice was toneless, nearly clinical, as he turned Will around to face him. His expression was equally unreadable, but that told Will more than anything. Especially when paired with the precise step Hannibal took away from Will.

He hurt Hannibal just by asking a question that was entirely reasonable to ask. Some variations of the question had, in fact, been asked before by the both of them. 

“I’m not getting cold feet,” Will assured him, shaking his head as he hazarded his guess as to why Hannibal would be hurt by his inquiry and following statements. Based on the way Hannibal’s body relaxed ever so slightly, he guessed correctly. “But I want to know.”

The change in Hannibal’s features was minute, something Will had to actually look for. Hannibal’s lips tightened, his eyes taking on a melancholic crease at the edges. “Would you believe me if I said I hadn’t considered it since Florence?”

“No,” Will told him outright, no mincing words. 

Shedding his mask, Hannibal allowed Will to see his sad smile. “You know me better than any other person ever has, my Will.” He raised a hand and caressed Will’s cheek. “I will confess that in some of my weaker moments, I have considered it. You make me vulnerable in a way to which I am unaccustomed and I find that quite disconcerting. To kill you would leave me once more protected and I could consume you and carry you with me forevermore as I have only done with one other. But these are thoughts I have adamantly dismissed. I hope you believe me when I say these moments have become less frequent and they always leave me feeling hollow. Your loss, even - and perhaps especially - by my own hand, would lead to my being irrevocably bereft.”

Placing his hand over Hannibal’s, Will met his earnest gaze with an unwavering expression and nod. “I believe you.”

Hannibal’s resulting smile was positively glowing. 

Will regretted making Hannibal doubt, but it was all still new. Wrapping his mind around it was difficult. They were leaving together. Will would completely abandon the life he had built, the one he tried so hard to keep from falling apart despite the shaky foundations. And Hannibal was with him not as an enemy, but as a lover and ally. Seeing his house devoid of his dogs, packing a small suitcase of things Will preferred not to part with, having Hannibal being there for him, affectionate with him, promising to love and care for him rather than fight and hurt him - it was all surreal and Will couldn’t help but question it. 

Will might have come to terms with who he was, what he could tolerate and enjoy, and who he loved, but that didn’t mean he stopped being Will Graham. And if there was anything Will Graham was good at, it was overthinking. And self-sabotage. And being suspicious of anything with even a passing resemblance to good fortune. 

Hannibal clearly saw Will’s train of thought turning towards self-loathing and insecurity and he neatly and efficiently cut it off by stepping close to Will once more. “You’re right to be wary of me. And I of you. Our history is rife with betrayal and pain. However, we mustn’t let those thoughts overrule other more important, more pleasant aspects of our relationship.”

Will barely held in a snort of laughter. 

Hannibal brushed a stray curl away from Will’s forehead, exasperated fondness practically spilling out of his eyes. “Is that really so amusing?”

“I don’t know if anyone else would characterize any aspect of our relationship as pleasant, Hannibal.”

“A perfect example of why I care so little for anyone else.” 

Will grinned crookedly, overcome by his own affection for Hannibal, a man considered by all other accounts to be a heartless monster. What he felt for both the man and the monster was enough to send thoughts about his own demise, faults, and failures far and away. The man and monster were the same to Will. He was both and neither. He was Hannibal and he defied all defining. And how Will loved him.

As attentive and attuned to Will as he was, Hannibal easily picked up on Will’s changing mood. His fondness shifted, his expression turning from tender to infatuated. The sweetness was overtaken by a dark obsession - one that was intense, possessive, and disquieting. Will should have been scared. He might have been if Hannibal didn’t inspire such a similar passion within his own self. Hannibal raised his hand once more, but rather than gently caressing Will’s cheek or sweeping away a wayward curl, he grasped the back of Will’s neck with a proprietary roughness that set every nerve in Will’s body on fire.

Will shivered, this time unable to hide the effect Hannibal had on him. 

“My dear Will,” Hannibal sighed, his voice thick with emotion. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes before pressing his forehead to Will’s. 

A moment later he opened his eyes, a diabolical gleam in their arousal blown darkness. When he spoke, his rough voice sent another tremble through Will’s frame. 

“I haven’t given serious thought to killing you in a very long time, Will. I couldn’t bear your absence. Not in this life or the next. But should you leave me, should someone take you from me, should someone keep me from you, I fear there is no limit to the horrible things I would do to keep you mine. Now, tell me, Will. Does that frighten you?”

Will dropped his gaze to Hannibal’s chest, the man’s eyes becoming too much for Will to handle as Will’s entire being vibrated with need. 

“Yes,” he admitted in a hoarse whisper.

Hannibal’s thumb stroked lovingly under Will’s jaw, his grip around Will’s neck unyielding. “And if I said you had no reason to be afraid?”

“I wouldn’t believe you.” 

Will snuck his hand into Hannibal’s belt and yanked as hard as he could. Hannibal jolted in surprise as they were pressed forcibly together. Will looked up, meeting Hannibal’s heated expression with one of his own. They were close enough that their noses brushed.

“Will?” Hannibal rasped out. 

“I can’t believe you because I know what I would do if you were taken from me,” Will breathed against Hannibal’s already parting lips. “And it is...terrifying.”

Hannibal shoved Will onto his desk with enough force to send it slamming into the wall with an abrupt crack. Their lips met in a bruising kiss that was somehow, despite all the teeth and tongue involved, full of soft, heart hammering emotion. Will felt more than heard the growl that resonated from Hannibal’s chest as covetous hands slid over his shoulders, his back, along his sides, across his stomach, and down to his thighs. With a swift movement, Hannibal had Will’s legs spread wide and in that same instant he was in between them. Looming over Will, Hannibal crushed their bodies together hard enough that it was nearly painful in the best way possible. 

“You delight in torturing me,” Hannibal accused in a lustful snarl, eyes betraying his pleasure at the turn of events. “Such a vicious love I have chosen.”

Will’s lips curved into a sharp, cruel smile. It was the only response Hannibal would need. 

“Beautiful,” Hannibal purred. He dived back down, kissing Will with enough purpose and undisguised fervor to wipe away Will’s smile and have him kissing back with the same dedication to their mad devotion.   

 

Just as the man had no trouble recognizing his equal, the monster had no trouble recognizing its mate. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Will: Why am I getting so intimate with a guy who has definitely thought about killing and eating me A LOT??? Who has caused me a lot of pain??? And who also makes me a worse person??? This seems kind of unreasonable, even for me  
> Hannibal: *shoots his cuffs, cracks his neck, shakes out the hand written poetry he's had prepared since season 2* Time to fuck away my beloved's doubts  
> Will: Ah, yes. That's why


End file.
